Master's Sun
by scriptblossom
Summary: When the man who doesn't believe in ghosts meets the woman who can see them.
1. The Sun Meets the Master

**Master's Sun**  
by Diana-san

 **Author's Note:** Based off of 2013 South Korean drama, Master's Sun.

* * *

A low growl rumbled in the far distance as a sharp pierce of lightning flashed through the night sky. Dark clouds rolled in and the sky shows an ominous tale of dread and fear. Down below on earth is an even darker situation. A widowed man by the name of Teuchi sits in his home as he faces the most despicable man on the face of the planet.

"So you are telling me that a dead spirit resides in this house?" the man asks Teuchi with a questioning raise of the eyebrow.

"Yes, my dead wife still lives in this house," Teuchi affirms. "For my daughter, I thought about selling this house. But my wife doesn't want that."

"So you're going to be the obstacle to my golf course," the man says quietly as he glances at the house. "Fine, let's negotiate."

"If my wife is here right now, how can I possibly drive her away?" Teuchi exclaims.

"She's here?" the man asks. "We can negotiate together then."

Teuchi points at a flower on top of a dresser. "My wife treasured that flower. When I had thoughts about selling the house, the flower suddenly wilted. But when I decided to not sell anymore, the flower suddenly came back to life."

The man nods as he listens. "So your wife expresses her opinions through this flower?" he asks. Teuchi nods. The man smiles as he knocks a fist on the table. "That means I have to negotiate with the flower," the man declares.

The man stands up as he walks over to the flower. Noticing a pair of pruning shears besides the flower, the man picked up the shears from the top of a dresser. The man looks to the left of the flower as he nods at the photo of Teuchi's late wife. "Flower Wife," he addresses the flower. "Your husband does not want to sell this house. I want to buy this house. Can you really not sell this house?" the man says as he holds up the shears in his hand. "If so, please nod your flower neck. If not, then I will cut your flower head."

"What are you doing?" Teuchi asks.

The man raises a hand at Teuchi. "Can't you see I am negotiating?"

Slowly, his hand itches towards the rose stem as the shears edge closer to wrap itself around the stem. "I'll give you three seconds to decide," the man continues to talk to the flower.

"3," he starts to count down as he glances at the photo of Teuchi's wife. Her smiling face stares back up at him.

"2," he continues on. The photo of Teuchi's wife continues to smile up at him.

"1," he finishes. A look of horror flashes across the photo of Teuchi's wife's eyes as the man glances away to look back at the flower.

In one swoop, he closes the shears as it clips over the stem and the rose on top falls to the table top."I guess your wife wants you to sell," the man states as he places the shears back down besides the fallen rose.

"Are you crazy?!" Teuchi shouts.

"The crazy one is you. Trying to overturn a deal made by the living because of a dead person… does that make any sense?" the man questions as his secretary hands a file of forms to Teuchi. "Please sign and honor the request of your daughter to sell."

Teuchi clenches his fist as he shakes in anger. He reluctantly signs as the man takes back the paperwork and turns to leave.

"No matter what you say… my wife is here!" Teuchi shouts.

Before the man exits the door, he turns his head and gives one last piece of advice to Teuchi. "Stop living for the dead but start living for those who are still alive now."

"Don't look down on things that cannot be seen. My wife is still alive in spirit," Teuchi exclaims.

The man laughs. "I am successful because I ignore things that are intangible. I am not tied down to the beliefs of ghosts or spirits."

The man steps outside to the drizzling rain outside as his secretary runs out with an umbrella. The man ignores the umbrella as he stretches out his hands and shouts to the sky. "If I am wrong, then strike me right now with lightning." Nothing happens and the man laughs once more as he walks towards the car.

Teuchi frowns and grumbles at him. "If ghosts exist, they will surely come after you."

* * *

A woman stands in the pouring rain in a white raincoat as she stands outside of a funeral wake. In her hand is a bankbook and a seal. The woman watches as a family of three siblings cries in front of a picture of an elderly woman. The woman sighs as she walks inside the wake and kneels down to pay her respect. Her hood comes down to reveal slightly wet pink tresses as her green eyes blink up at the three siblings.

The siblings stare back at her in confusion. "Uh, who are you? Are you a friend of my mother?" the eldest sibling asks. The woman nods as she hands over the bankbook and seal to him. The other two siblings, both sisters, huddle around their older brother as they peer over his shoulders to see the contents of the bankbook.

"Your mother left you some money to take care of the funeral costs and pay off any debts or loans," the woman tells the three. The older brother gasps. "There's $10,000 in her account!" he exclaims. "That old hag had been keeping all this money from us this whole time!" The woman twitches at the lack of respect the son was showing to his late mother.

She stands up as she bows to signal her leave. As she turns around slowly, she could hear the discussion behind her about what to do with the money. None of them sound responsible in any way as the three siblings begin to argue about how big each of their share was. A deep flash of anger passes through the woman's eyes as she whirls back around and grabs the collar of the older brother's shirt. "AND IF YOU GAMBLE ONE MORE TIME, I'LL COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU AND CUT OFF YOUR HAND YOU SCOUNDREL!" she shouts.

The older brother shakes in her hands as he recalls the same tone and language that his mother had always used on him in the past. The woman releases him and turns back to leave as she steps back out into the pouring rain.

A ghastly figure greets her outside and the woman recognizes the ghost to be the elderly grandma she met earlier in her room. The ghost nods and points to the road before disappearing. The woman sighs as she turns back to look at the photo inside of the funeral wake. The woman on the picture matches the ghostly figure just now. Putting her hood back on, the woman runs out towards the main road as she stands and waits.

* * *

"Sasuke, you shouldn't curse the spirits. You might anger them," Kakashi says as he squints at the road in front. They were driving along the empty road and the rain was continuing to fall freely, making it difficult to see well.

Sasuke grunts as he flips through the pages of the contract in his hands. The words on the contract swirls and jumbles in his eyes and Sasuke shakes his head to shake away the feeling. Feeling frustrated, he tosses the papers back in the folder as he places it aside. "I don't believe in spirits, Kakashi. You know that."

Kakashi smiles as he continues to drive. "Hm, it looks like there's someone up ahead trying to hitch a ride…" he murmurs.

"Don't stop. Don't even look at her. She's probably a crazy woman," Sasuke instructs.

Kakashi nods as he turns back to look at the road in front. Suddenly, a terrifying face with grotesque features pops up on the road. Kakashi slams on the brakes in fear and the whole car lurches as it stops right in front of the woman on the side of the road.

The woman smiles widely as she runs to the back door of the car and opens it. "Thank you so much for stopping!" she shouts happily as she pokes her head in and climbs into the seat next to Sasuke. Sasuke stares back at her in shock as he turns back to look at his secretary. Kakashi only looks in shock back at the road as the ghastly figure he just saw was no longer there. Kakashi shakes his head and wonders if he was seeing things.

The woman closes the door and Kakashi turns and shrugs back at Sasuke. "My name is Haruno Sakura. You can just drop me off in the city. You're heading back to the city right?" she asks. Kakashi nods in response.

"Just drop her off at the first chance you get," Sasuke grumbles. Sakura smiles as she buckles her seat belt. "This grandma told me that I would find a ride if I waited here. She said that you can avoid a lightning bolt but not me," she pipes up. Sasuke stares at the woman at the plain irony.

"Wow, your car is so fancy. You must be rich, huh?" Sakura wonders as she inspects the interior of the car.

Kakashi chuckles in the front seat. "Our young master is Uchiha Sasuke, CEO of Kingdom Mall."

"Ohh, that big mall in the center of downtown?" she asks.

"It's not just a big mall," Sasuke grumbles. "It's the biggest mall in all of Konoha," he boasts.

Sakura nods but doesn't seem to care about that fact as she stares at the front of the road to watch the pouring rain continue to pelt the car in large drops of rain. Suddenly, she sees something and she screams in fright. The car comes to a second halt as Kakashi stops at the sound of the scream.

Sakura's eyes widens as a grotesque-looking ghost passes through the car and comes face to face with her. She shuts her eyes as she leans her body left to clutch onto the closest thing she can for comfort. That comfort turned out to be Uchiha Sasuke. The ghost disappears in a poof of a whisper as Sasuke stares at the woman clinging to his left arm. With a finger, he places it on Sakura's forehead as he pushes her off of him. "Don't touch me," he says in disgust as he dusts off his arm.

Sakura whirls her head around as she tries to look for the ghost she just saw. "He's gone," she murmurs in slight confusion. She turns back to look at Sasuke. "Did you feel something just now?" she asks.

"Besides you touching me?" he grumpily asks.

"No, there was an electricity when we touched. Like magic!"

Sasuke scoffs and shakes his head. This woman was definitely a crazy wack job.

Kakashi pulls up to a gas rest stop. "I have to fill up gas. But we will be back in Konoha in an hour."

Sasuke nods as all of them stepped out of the car. The rain had finally let up and Sasuke stretches after having sat in the car for two hours already. Sakura had wandered off earlier but he sees her again as he takes a brief stroll towards the convenience mart.

He sees her sitting with two paper cups out on a bench as she pours out sake into one of them. He shakes his head at the sight. It appears as if Sakura was talking to herself as she holds up a cup in her hand and laughs. Sasuke surmises that the woman was indeed crazy. "She probably ran away from a mental institution," he murmurs as he observes the outfit she was in. Sakura had removed her raincoat from before and was now dressed in a simple plain white dress. Sasuke nods. "Definitely a mental patient."

He backs away quietly as he turns to head back to the car. This was the perfect opportunity to leave the woman there and head back before she noticed.

* * *

Sakura laughs as she raises her empty paper cup in the air. The ghost in front of her smiles and motions for her to drink.

"Oh no," she laughs as she shakes her hand at the offer. "I can't drink. It'll be very bad if I drink." She gestures to the ghost at the cup. "But I guess you enjoy drinking? You must miss the smell of alcohol if you kept following me to ask me to buy a bottle of sake for you."

Sakura hears a quiet sound of footsteps and turns slightly to see Sasuke turning to head back to the car. Quickly, she gets up from the bench as she runs after him. "Sasuke-kun!" she calls out and Sasuke stops in his tracks as he realizes that he was caught. But he continues to walk ahead as he ignores the sound of Sakura calling out his name again.

Sakura glances behind her to see that the ghost was following her. "Go away," she shoos at the ghost. "You can't follow me still. Go back to your alcohol."

Without knowing it, she stops abruptly as she walks into Sasuke's back. The ghost that was following her just now also disappears. Sakura stares in shock at the spot where the ghost once was.

"You know, I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt that even though you look crazy… that perhaps maybe there was a slight chance that you weren't crazy," Sasuke says as he turns around. "But hearing you talk to yourself again, I can say for sure that you are DEFINITELY crazy."

Sakura turns to stare at Sasuke as she reaches out her hand to touch his arm. Her hand runs along the length of his arm as it feels up and down the fabric sleeve of his suit jacket. Sasuke's eye twitches as he watches her before grabbing her hand off of him and throwing it aside.

He holds a finger up as if reprimanding her for something. "You know there are two things I hate most in this world," he tells her. "People who touch my money and people who touch my _body_."

"I'm sorry," Sakura apologizes. "I was just…" Sakura turns back to look around the area but the ghost was no longer there. "…scared of this guy but he's not here anymore." Sakura glances curiously at Sasuke's arm as her hand reaches out once more to touch it. "He just vanished when I touched you," she murmurs.

Sasuke could feel himself reaching the limit of his patience. "So you want to know how to get rid of unwanted people?" he asks her. Sakura nods in reply. "Then wait here," he says as he points down at the ground to instruct her to not move anywhere.

He quickly turns around as he walks back to the car, climbs in, and closes the door. Sakura watches in confusion as the car starts up and begins to drive away. Quickly, her feet learns to move as she runs towards the car. "Waiiiiiiiittt, you forgot about meeee!" she shouts as she waves at the back of the car.

Sasuke glances at the rearview mirror as he smirks. Kakashi glances back at the mirror as well. "Are you sure we should leave her here?" Kakashi asks.

"It's a gas station. Some other person will come along and take her back," Sasuke replies. He glances at the empty seat besides him as he realizes it wasn't empty after all. Lying on the seat was the white raincoat that Sakura had left behind. He stares at it as he glances back at the rearview mirror. Sakura's reflection in the mirror was getting smaller and smaller. Without a second thought, Sasuke shoves the raincoat to the floor of the car as he leans back in his seat and closes his eyes.


	2. The Ghost Besides You

Master's Sun  
by Diana-san

* * *

Thunder roared overhead as rain continued to fall heavily down. Sakura laid in her bed, her head buried underneath the covers, as she hugged her stuffed dinosaur doll to sleep. But she couldn't sleep. The ghosts wouldn't let her.

"Please… I wish it would stop raining and the sun will shine," she whimpers underneath the sheets.

* * *

"The wedding between top star, Yamanaka Ino, and soccer star, Nara Shikamaru, is highly anticipated to be the biggest wedding of the year," a news announcer on television reports as coverage of a press conference airs behind her.

Sasuke stares at the iPad screen in his hand as he watches the news report. The bottom edges of his lips curl down in a frown as he glances at the wall behind the engaged couple. With a grunt, he tosses the iPad to the side.

"Did you see the report?" Jiraiya asks with a grin as he follows after Sasuke through the corridors of Kingdom Mall.

Sasuke grunts. "I saw 15 seconds of Kingdom Mall. How are we sponsoring the wedding and get so little coverage? It's like the wedding is more important than us."

Jiraiya blinks. "It sort of… never mind," Jiraiya says, thinking against what he was going to say earlier. "That's because it is an ad for Ino and not an ad for Kingdom Mall."

Sasuke stops in front of a giant advertisement covering one wall of the lower level floors in the mall. A giant picture of a smiling Ino graces the advertisement with the Kingdom Mall's logo on the bottom. He slams a hand against it as he turns to glare at Jiraiya. "If it's a wedding I sponsor for an advertisement model for my company… then it is considered a company ad." Sasuke turns to look at the rest of his people including his secretary and public relations manager. "Make sure to get as much publicity for the mall as you can from this wedding," he orders.

"Yes sir!" the group choruses.

* * *

Sakura sighs as she walks up the stairs of her apartment building. She is startled when she turns a corner and comes face to face with the three kids from her building. "Ah, Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi" she greets them.

The four of them end up on the rooftop of the apartment building as Sakura opens up a can of canned tuna for the kids.

"We didn't have to eat together. We just needed help opening the can," Konohamaru says.

"It's okay. I was about to eat lunch anyways. We can all eat together," Sakura reassures him. "Your mother is working?"

Udon takes a big bite of rice as he stares up at Sakura. "The lady on the second floor tells us that you are a crazy hobo," he says.

Sakura chuckles. "I guess I come off that way. Onee-san wasn't always like this. I wish I could live a normal life but they keep following me wherever I go. It's so hard to keep a normal job or even date." Sakura sighs.

"Mom says that if you get tired, then you should find a man," Moegi pipes up as she spoons up some rice from her bowl.

"A man, hm?" Sakura thinks for a bit. She recalls the man from last night and how the ghost that was following her had disappeared when she touched him. "Uchiha Sasuke…" she murmurs to herself.

* * *

Sakura peers around a tall pillar as she glances around the surrounding area for any people. She had somehow made her way down to the lower level of the mall where the mall offices were located. Squinting at a half-opened door, she tried to see if the CEO was inside. As stealthily as possible, Sakura tiptoes over to the door as she peers in. To her excitement, she sees Sasuke sitting at a conference table besides another man and a woman dressed in a white spring dress.

Sakura sees the man's face turn slightly towards the door and she recognizes the man as the famous soccer star, Nara Shikamaru. Suddenly, the woman besides him vanishes and appears in front of Sakura with a sullen face. Sakura screams in horror as she falls to the ground in shock. Her hands fly to her mouth to cover up her mouth as she quickly gets up and runs as fast as she can.

From inside the room, Sasuke and Shikamaru glance up in surprise as Sasuke rushes over to the door to look out but the hall was empty.

* * *

"So you want me to talk to that man over there?" Sakura asks as she peers around the pillar she was hiding behind. Standing and waiting by the elevator was Nara Shikamaru with his manager.

Sakura turns to look behind her to see the female ghost that had followed after she had ran away from the conference room earlier. The ghost nods as her white dress swishes in the air.

Sakura glances back at the elevator. "I suppose I can talk to him if I can have a moment alone with him in the elevator." With a determined face, she runs out from behind the pillar just as she sees the elevator door open and the two men start to enter. Before she could get inside the elevator, she feels a hand grab her head from behind and turn her around.

"What are you doing?"

Sakura blinks at who it was. "C-CEO sir!" she exclaims in surprise. Sasuke stares at her as he glances up and down at her clothes to see her dressed in nothing more but a plain, white dress that resembles close to a hospital gown. He didn't seem to recognize her as he turns to his security team.

"Here is someone suspicious. Throw her out of the mall," he instructs his team. The security team nods as two guys grab at Sakura's arms.

"Wait! Mr. President sir, don't you remember me? From last night!" Sakura cries out.

Sasuke stares at her with a blank look but after a moment, it seems as if something in his brain clicks. Still, he shakes his head as he waves his security team to continue on.

"But we even had a tingly moment in the car! Remember?! I left my clothes at your place!" Sakura shouts in desperation.

The security team glances back and forth between Sakura and Sasuke in complete confusion. "Did you two…" one guard starts to speak but immediately closes his mouth when Sasuke glares at him.

Sasuke presses his lips together with a look of frustration but he grabs Sakura by the wrist as he pulls her behind him to go somewhere quiet. Sasuke releases her wrist as soon as they get to an empty corridor. "What are you doing in my mall?" he asks with an angry raised tone. "Now you're following after another man?"

Sakura blinks as she realizes who Sasuke was referring to. She smiles bashfully as she tucks a loose strand of pink hair behind her ear. Shyly, she pokes Sasuke in the arm as she giggles softly. "Oh, you know that you are the only one I would follow," she says bashfully. "I don't want to follow the other man but the ghosts keep hounding me and asking me for favors that don't even relate to me," she sighs.

Sasuke stares at the spot that Sakura just poked him in. "Never mind that. Don't follow my soccer star and don't mess with the wedding. Do I need to call the police or ambulance for you?"

"No," she mumbled. "I already been in those before. I don't like it very much." She watches as he nods and gestures towards the exit as he turns to leave. "But doesn't the living deserve to know the truth about the past?" she calls out to him. "Especially when it comes to the dead and their wishes!"

He stops and pauses for a moment as he turns back around. "No. Stop torturing the living and move on. The dead have no power." With that said, he turns back around as his back gets smaller and smaller.

* * *

"You heard him. He said to not follow Shikamaru," Sakura says as she turns to the ghost.

"P-please. You must meet him. You must give him the box," the ghost whispers as a tear rolls down her face.

Sakura sighs as she nods and walks up the hill. She and the ghost had come out to the wedding venue which was next to an outdoor grassy field. A small hill was in front and at the top of the hill was a large tree. Sakura could see Shikamaru sitting and resting against the trunk of the tree with an exasperated look on his face.

Walking with soft steps, Sakura stops in front of Shikamaru as she holds a box in hand. Shikamaru glances up at her with a lazy eye as he waits for her to speak. Sakura crouches down as she sets the box in front of him.

"From her," she says softly.

Shikamaru looks at her in confusion but he sits up and looks at the box as he opens it up. A pair of cleats was inside along with a faded picture. He picks up the picture as he sees who is on it. It was his wedding picture from 5 years ago. He gently graze the picture as his finger traces the outline of the girl's face.

"She wanted you to have this," Sakura said.

"How do you know?"

Sakura bit her lower lip. A fair question yet one hard to answer. "Because… she's beside me right now."

Shikamaru glanced up at her. "What?"

Sakura took a deep breath and then she began to explain. "Temari-san…" And with that, Sakura spilled the whole story to him.

* * *

Cameras flashed as the paparazzi lined up against the roped walkway to the wedding entrance hall. Sasuke smiled as he watched the cameras aim exactly where he wanted them to aim. Conveniently placed at all central locations for optimal photo opportunity was the Kingdom logo behind every flower decoration and photos of the bride and groom.

Inside the waiting room, Ino sits and waits for signs of her groom-to-be as reports have stated that he had run off to somewhere. She is relieved when he enters moments later.

"Finally! If I wait any more longer, my make-up will melt off," she grumbled as she got up to face him.

"I'm sorry," Shikamaru starts.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go already."

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

Shikamaru pulls out the photo of his wedding from five years ago. "I'm already married. This was my bride."

"Isn't that the girl who left you before you became famous and abandoned you?"

Shikamaru nods. "But… she didn't abandon me. She had an illness. She covered it up the whole time and in order to protect me… she left and died all on her own." Shikamaru tried to hold back the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes again. "She never left me." He clutched at his heart. "She's still cheering for me in here. And I still love her. So I am sorry. I can't marry you."

Ino stares at him, dumbfounded. She watches as the man she was supposed to marry turns to walk out the door.

* * *

"Are you really going to throw away your future by clinging to your past?"

Shikamaru glanced up to see Sasuke standing before him. Shikamaru smiles. "Don't worry. You'll still be paid for being the host of this event. My manager will send you the payment. But I won't go through with this wedding."

Sasuke smirks. "Oh, I'll make sure I get paid alright. But your little action today will still cost me all the missed opportunities I could have received. All for what? Living in the past? Honestly, I can say now that I will enjoy watching your career crumble from all this. Because you are a fool."

Shikamaru smiles back. "Perhaps my career would be affected by this but I don't care. I was a nobody once and Temari loved me for who I was. Knowing that is enough for me." He walks past Sasuke as he heads towards the exit. Turning back once, Shikamaru looks at Sasuke. "Oh, and she gave me a message. Haruno Sakura, that is. She says to tell you this: "even if the dead have no power, their hearts remain still"."

Shikamaru points at Sasuke. "And she says that one such heart remains right next to you." He could tell that the last line had an added shock value as Sasuke's eyes widened at the words.

* * *

Sakura sighed as she hugged her pillow. She couldn't sleep. Not that she could sleep before. The ghosts were always bothering her each night and this night seemed to be even worse. Word must have gotten out among the ghost community about how she helped Temari talk to Shikamaru.

With a groan, Sakura lifted her body out of bed as she walked out of her tiny one-room apartment to the rooftop. It was nice to be living on the rooftop as it was the quietest spot in the whole building. Quiet for normal humans. It was still quite a nightmare for a woman who can see and hear ghosts.

She sat down on a wide bench out on the rooftop as she hugged her knees close to her body. Bringing her hands to her head, she covered her ears as she tried to drown out the voices.

* * *

Sasuke steps out of his car as he glances up at the apartment building in front of him. "So this is where she lives?" With a disgruntled grunt, he walks inside the building and climbs the stairs to the top of the building. Somehow, he wasn't surprised to see her sitting outside her apartment talking to herself once again. Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be swatting the air as she mumbled incoherently for it to "go away".

Sasuke's thoughts flashed back to what Shikamaru had told him before. _"One such heart remains right next to you."_ His memories come flooding through as he remembers the incident from ten years ago. A car burning up in flames as Sasuke can only helplessly watch his brother, strapped into the passenger seat and staring remorsefully back at him.

"Haruno Sakura," he calls out to her. She shows no indication of noticing him as her eyes continue to stay close in a sleeping state. Marching over to Sakura, his hands lifts her up by the shoulders. "Haruno Sakura. Tell me! What do you see next to me? What do you see besides me?" he practically shouted.

"Sleep… I just want to sleep besides you," she murmurs as she falls and her head rests against his shoulders. Sasuke is taken aback as Sakura leans against him and breathes gently as she continues to sleep.


End file.
